Paying Workers Enough to Live Is Communism

Pharoah Bloomberg: Paying Workers Enough to Live Is Communism | | AlterNet.

Monopoly power in action

90 Percent of Corn Seeds Are Coated With Bayer’s Bee-Decimating Pesticide

90 Percent of Corn Seeds Are Coated With Bayers Bee-Decimating Pesticide | Mother Jones.

Long-term unemployed losing benefits as job picture appears to improve

Nationwide about 12 million people are out of work and actively seeking a job. About 5.1 million of those are considered “long-term unemployed,” meaning they have been looking for work for 27 weeks or longer.

What’s more, one big reason the unemployment rate has been falling is because many people are giving up on finding a job or not entering the labor force to begin with. People not actively seeking a job are not counted as unemployed by the BLS.

Economy Watch – Long-term unemployed losing benefits as job picture improves.

Single-Payer Health Care: $570 Billion Cheaper

Economist Gerald Friedman has what looks to be the silver bullet against the claim that single-payer health care is infeasible on economic grounds, showing how “Medicare for all” could save billions of dollars while improving millions of lives.

via Single-Payer Health Care: $570 Billion Cheaper – Truthdig.

“How to Create a Depression” by Martin Feldstein

European political leaders may be about to agree to a fiscal plan which, if implemented, could push Europe into a major depression. To understand why, it is useful to compare how European countries responded to downturns in demand before and after they adopted the euro.

“How to Create a Depression” by Martin Feldstein.

The worst-paying cities for women

While it’s been nearly a century since women across the country won the right to vote and the right to work alongside men, equal pay continues to remain a distant goal.

via Bottom Line – The worst-paying cities for women.

Is decoupling real? « Consider the Evidence

Since the 1970s, income growth for middle-class American households has become decoupled from growth of the economy.

via Is decoupling real? « Consider the Evidence.

Paychecks for young adults getting slimmer

Wages for young workers have been declining for more than a decade. They fell off a cliff during the Great Recession to levels not seen since the 1970s for certain groups of entry-level workers, according to new data from center-left think tank the Economic Policy Institute.

via Life Inc. – Paychecks for young adults getting slimmer.

Bye Bye American Pie: The Challenge of the Productivity Revolution

So while the productivity revolution is indubitably good, the task ahead is to figure out how to distribute more of its gains to more of our people.

via Robert Reich Bye Bye American Pie: The Challenge of the Productivity Revolution.

Jobs Returning Slowly as Wages Lag

The pressure on wages has multiple causes. None of the main factors seems poised to change for the better. Advanced information technologies have slashed the ranks of many careers, such as travel agents. Competition from emerging markets has sliced away jobs on the factory floor and customer-service phone banks. Union membership has plunged, from some 35 percent of private sector workers in the early 1950s to 6.9 percent in 2010.

via Jobs Returning Slowly—as Wages Lag – Businessweek.